Dueling faded ads in the coffee and tea district

Two full-frontal, side-by-side ads for two different coffee and tea wholesalers duke it out on Hubert Street off Greenwich Avenue.

In the 19th and much of the 20th century, Tribeca—then known as the Lower West Side—was the city’s food wholesaler hub.

Ships would dock in the Hudson and unload goods into warehouses owned by importer-exporter companies. Those lovely old warehouses now serve as luxury loft apartments.